Teens admit to criminal threat in California school shooting plot

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two teenagers accused of conspiring to kill teachers and students at their suburban Los Angeles high school admitted on Wednesday to making a criminal threat in connection with the planned mass shooting that never materialized, prosecutors said.

The pair were arrested in August by police who said the plot was thwarted after detectives were tipped off by administrators at South Pasadena High School.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said the teens, now aged 18 and 17, appeared in Pasadena Juvenile Court and each admitted to one felony count of criminal threats. They were ordered placed on probation under the supervision of their parents, a spokesman for district attorney said.

The prosecutor's office said in a statement the pair had discussed carrying out a shooting massacre at their school, and that they shared their plan with another teen and later threatened to kill the other youth.

The pair were not publicly identified by prosecutors because they were juveniles at the time of the offense. One was arrested at his home without incident, while the other "resisted arrest and officers had to force entry into his residence," police said in a statement at the time.

Few details of the plot were released, but police said the two youths were "plotting to kill three staff members and as many students as possible with firearms."

South Pasadena is an affluent suburban town of some 24,000 residents about 8 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.